Alterations in the past
by Gerti
Summary: Have you ever wondered what Naruto would be like if he'd snapped during all those years of solitude he called a childhood? And have you ever wondered what would happen if that evil bastard of a jinchuuriki met his cheerful, brightly dressed counterpart? Nothing good I can assure you.


**Alterations**

_Have you ever wondered what Naruto would be like if he'd snapped during all those years of torture he called a childhood?_

_And have you ever wondered what would happen if that evil bastard of a jinchuuriki met his cheerful, brightly dressed counterpart?_

_Lord help canon Konoha._

A peaceful meadow in the forest of death.

At least it was. Until several minutes ago when it went up in a truly spectacular explosion.

_It's amazing really._

Now all that's left is a smoldering crater, half filled with still-molten rock from the cataclysmic meltdown.

_What a few subtle differences in the past can change._

Ash choked the air and smoke billowed upwards, allowing team 7 to locate ground zero with ease. Kakashi being the first one there, for once, was in the process of trying to figure out what the hell had happened here when the rest of his 'squad' arrived.

_Events snowball until things are warped beyond recognition._

"Whoa!" Naruto shouted as soon as he entered the clearing, "What happened here?"

Kakashi gave his student a withering look as Sasuke and Sakura entered the clearing, limiting their responses to wide eyes and a startled gasp, respectively.

Kakashi strode to the edge of the smoldering crater and peered into the smoke, trying to make out if there was anything in it. Unlikely as that was considering it was full of half-cooled magma. A flicker of movement caught his eye and he crouched low, reaching for a kunai.

_The past is not absolute, things can change._

He backed away until he was right alongside his students, and all four of them watched as a hazy figure stumbled through the smoke.

_Different choices can be made_.

"Get back, all of you!" he shouted to his students, the man's chakra levels were immense! He was radiating enough excess chakra to power a solid C-rank technique.

Naruto and Sasuke looked ready to fight, but they couldn't sense chakra yet and didn't know the danger they were in. The silver haired jounin was about to order them out of the clearing when the stranger stepped out of the haze.

_Different choices lead to altered events._

The nin was beyond merely injured, half of the wounds Kakashi could see would have killed a normal shinobi, he could see the guys heart for kami's sake, and he had at least three injuries that went clear through major parts of his body. Kakashis sharingan eye whirled as he searched for any trace of genjutsu or a henge, but there were none. The injuries were all real enough.

The strangest thing though, was that the man didn't even seem particularly bothered by the injuries, walking towards them with barely a limp.

Kakashi's eyes traveled from the man's clothing, a shredded dark cloak and black shinobi gear, to his face. As soon as he saw the six whisker-like marks on the nins cheeks Kakashi knew something was very wrong.

_And altered events lead to altered people._

The massive surge of demonic chakra that exploded from the nins body a second later only confirmed the fact.

Youki poured from the man for a full thirty seconds before it ceased as abruptly as it began, and the nin was completely healed.

"_Damnit_ that hurts!" the nin proceeded to shout as the four konoha shinobi uncovered their eyes, which they had shielded during the blast.

Kakashi immediately slipped into a defensive stance, ready for anything this strange ninja could throw at him.

The nin looked at them as if he was just noticing that there were in fact other people in the clearing. Several seconds passed during which the two shinobi stared each other down, matching wills and gauging each other's strength. And suddenly the black-clad ninja smiled. Now, as an elite jounin Kakashi prided himself on not being afraid of many things, but this man's smile chilled him to the very core of his being. It was a smile that reminded him of all the terrible things that lurked in the night, demons and creatures that took pleasure in nothing more than causing pain in others. It was a smile that brought forth unbidden, memories of the thing he feared most. Terrible images of a massive, demonic fox tearing its way through trained shinobi as if they were dolls. Crushing homes and families alike in single swipes of its massive paws and tails.

Kakashi was trembling just the tiniest bit, and covered in a thin sheen of sweat, but he finally managed to throw off the suffocating killing intent the nin was sending his way. This guy was good. Maybe even better than him. The copy nin wasn't quite sure he could win this in a fair fight.

Though that didn't really make much difference in the end. He was a ninja after all.

The masked jounin immediately launched a kunai at the man, hiding another in its shadow almost subconsciously before his hands started to flicker into hand seals.

"Why Kakashi-sensei," the nin caught the knife by the blade, tilting his head to let the other fly past him, and the silver haired shinobi froze at the familiar voice, "You'd attack your own student? I didn't think you had it in you."

Kakashis eyes widened as the nin spoke. His voice was eerily similar to...

And then it hit him, he'd known that the nin looked familiar.

In fact, there was a boy with the exact same blond hair, and whisker marks standing behind him.

The nin was Narutos twin in every way shape and form, except for his eyes. Where Narutos eyes were normal, for the most part, and sparkled with joy and curiosity the nins pupils were slit, cutting his blue irises evenly in half, and seemed to radiate nothing but malice.

They were the eyes of a killer.

Kakashi started as Sakura groaned and palmed her face.

"Seriously Naruto? This is not the time for your stupid pranks!" she shouted stalking right up to the nin before a shocked Kakashi

'Well, this can't end well.' He thought, before he reached out ineffectively in her direction with a sweatdrop. "Uh, Sakura, that's not…"

The nin disappeared just before she reached him, causing Sakura to blink owlishly as her imminent tirade was cut off, before he reappeared directly in front of Naruto, who was squinting confusedly at the doppleganger.

"Well well," he muttered, before an incredibly creepy smile marred his features, "if it isn't... Me."

**Short, I know.**

**Consider this a test chapter, to see what kind of reaction I get.**

**And to see if this little plot bunny is worth pursuing, so to speak.**

**Review if you liked it, hated it (flames will be used to burn down the flamers home), or anything else really.**


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